Euro19
2019 European Parliament Elections and the Czech Left – Campaigns and AftermathDefenders of Czechia
According to a survey by Ipsos MORI, although four out of five Czechs are interested in environmental issues such as the sustainability of agriculture, nature conservation and emission reduction, the most fundamental issue of European elections for 86% of Czech voters is terrorism. This is paradoxical outcome for a country where no terrorist attack has taken place, and where only few dozens of people have applied for asylum during the peak of the so-called refugee crisis. ...
read more "Decline of the Left"
read more "Decline of the Left"
Political parties with a well-developed political network all around the country won 6 out of 8 seats.
Before the elections, the public polls were showing a tightly matched battle for the 8 seats allocated to Slovenia in the European Parliament. According to these polls, even 1% of votes for a specific party could completely change the outcome of who would be moving to Brussels. In the end, the elections showed the votes were not matched as tightly as the polls were showing just a few days earlier. It seems the ...
read more "First Defeat of the »Levica« and Victory of the Traditional Established Parties"
read more "First Defeat of the »Levica« and Victory of the Traditional Established Parties"
On May 26 2019 Belgium had European, federal and regional elections. What opinion polls did not show three months ago started to emerge two to three weeks before the elections: a surge of the far right in Flanders. The radical left also grew considerably and will, as expected, have one French speaking member in the European Parliament. In Flanders it did pass the electoral threshold of 5% for federal and regional elections. The tidal wave of the greens only materialised in the French speaking part of the country. In sum, governing parties all ...
read more "European elections in Belgium: two countries in one"
read more "European elections in Belgium: two countries in one"
The Danish Left in a pro-European landscapeAmidst Brexit and the rise of populist, EU-skepticist parties all over the continent, the results of the European Parliament elections mark a historical decrease in Danish Euro-criticism leaving climate politics the only common area of political attention where Denmark follows the tendency of the result of the elections on the continent. Turning towards a work-from-within stance, the left has abandoned its decade-long leave position and ended the era of the popular resistance.Once again, Denmark marks a counter-tendency in European ...
read more "The End of an Era"
read more "The End of an Era"
After one year at the government, the Italian populist coalition composed by the 5 Stars Movement and the Lega Nord, the formula of Mediterranean populism has been reversed. On March 4, 2018, the 5 Stars Movement was the leading party, with 32% of the votes, and the Lega Nord was their coalition partner to form the government, with 17% of the preferences. On May 27, 2019, the Lega Nord secures 34% of the national preferences at the elections for the European Parliament, while the 5 Stars Movement is at 17.1% of the preferences. The Lega Nord affirms itself as...
read more "The Italian populism paint it black"
read more "The Italian populism paint it black"
The results of the European elections in Greece are a clear victory for right-wing New Democracy (ND), which took first place with a 9-point lead over the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), which has governed the country since 2015. Overall, this result is confirmed by the local government elections (regional and municipal elections took place in the same day). These results triggered rapid developments, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declaring that he would call snap national elections for late June (these would have been held by ...
read more "A Rightward Shift and Early Parliamentary Elections"
read more "A Rightward Shift and Early Parliamentary Elections"
The French Left comes out divided and weakened from the European campaign. The socialist party has managed to survive and to maintain itself whereas La France Insoumise has not succeeded in remobilising its electorate, staying far behind its ambitioned score. Both parties lag behind the Greens who imposed themselves as the third political force. In the light of the consolidation of La République en Marche and of the Rassemblement National in the political landscape, the Left faces the challenge of political recomposition...
read more "Explosive-implosive relations: The Twin Rise of Macronism and Nationalism"
read more "Explosive-implosive relations: The Twin Rise of Macronism and Nationalism"
The European elections, though not at the European public’s centre of attention, are about the very future of the EU and its members states. For this reason transform! europe is monitoring the electoral process from a left perspective.
transform! europe also provides an interactive map. Move the cursor over a country for an overview of the left parties competing in the elections and for current opinion polls. For information on the whole EU, move the cursor to the European Parliament-icon.
Interactive map
European Parliament Elections in HungaryThe other day, a German friend of mine said: "Whenever we heard worrying news from Hungary in the first 20 years after the fall of communism, we always thought it was just another little storm over Lake Balaton. We should have taken it more seriously." Long held up as a model of successful transition to democracy and European integration, Hungary is now one of the darkest corners of the continent. How did it come to this? What happened to this charming Central European republic? What are we to make of a country whose famed Lake ...
read more "A Storm over Lake Balaton?"
read more "A Storm over Lake Balaton?"
Initial situationTo understand the situation of the Czech Left at the end of the second decade of the 21st century, it is necessary to briefly outline the post-communist development of the Czech Republic. In terms of left-wing politics, the situation in Czechoslovakia (from 1 January 1993 onwards, the independent Czech Republic) was somewhat atypical compared to other ex-Soviet bloc countries. Unlike Poland, Hungary or the eastern part of the united Germany, there was no transformation of the Communist Party into a social-democratic party. Social...
read more "European Parliament Elections and the Czech Left"
read more "European Parliament Elections and the Czech Left"